Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes

Roasted Heirloom Tomatoes

My little garden is a well planned garden. It’s a lot of work but it’s completely worth it. In comparison to other people’s gardens, my garden is small, efficient and in my opinion, for its size, it kicks some serious butt. By the time spring rolls around, I know exactly what is getting planted and where. What’s even worse is that I am extremely picky about the tomato plants that I grow every year. If you don’t believe me, just ask Bruce. I have limited space so I have to choose my plants wisely. I make a list and I stick to it. When it comes to tomatoes, I like a variety of shapes, colors and flavors. This year I chose Green Zebra, Early Girl, Pineapple, Sun Gold, Aunt Ruby’s German Green, Sweet 100, Lemon Boy, Japanese Black Trifele, Mortgage Lifter, Caspian Pink and Moskovich. That’s my list and I’m sticking to it. Until today…

Tomato Plant

I prefer to do my gardening early in the cool hours in the morning. I hand water my plants everyday and inspect every one for pests or other possible plant problems. Everything that I grow is organic and free from pesticides or sprays. Sometimes, the veggies that I grow are not as pretty as store bought but I don’t care. Pretty is not everything. What’s important is that what I grow in my garden is safe for my family to eat.

My tomatoes are ripening and I just realized that have an alien specie in my garden. The tomato that you see is not what I intended to plant. This little unripe tomato completely threw my well planned orderly universe on it’s side. This tomato was supposed to be a Green Zebra. Green Zebras are my son’s favorite. That is why I planted two plants. This is no Green Zebra and frankly, I was a bit miffed. Either someone switched tags at the nursery where I bought it or the seeds were switched at birth. Fortunately I have a backup. As for the alien specie, it took me about an hour of internet time to figure this one out. This tomato is called Stupice. Yes, Stupice. Go figure.

One of my favorite ways to prepare tomatoes from my garden is to oven roast them. It’s easy to do, they taste freakingly amazing and once they are roasted, they are so versatile. Just toss them in your favorite pasta dish or blend them up for a delicious sauce. They also taste great on pizza, in soup or even in scrambled eggs. The possibilities are endless!

Just toss the tomatoes in olive oil, salt and pepper.

And roast them… Roasted tomatoes are seriously delicious. As for the Stupice tomatoes, I don’t know why I was having such an issue… Stupice have a wonderful sweet and tart tomato flavor. It’s highly likely that Stupice will find a place in our little garden next year and possibly in the many years to come.

Ingredients:

tomatoes

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Cut tomatoes in half or into large chunks and remove the tops. If the tomatoes are small, then there’s no need to slice them. Gently squeeze out some of the seeds. Toss lightly with olive oil, salt, pepper. Arrange tomatoes in a single layer on a foil lined cookie sheet (for easy cleanup). Bake for 45-60 minutes depending on the size or variety of tomatoes. Cook until the tomatoes start to shrivel and get a bit of color or until your liking. Remove from oven, let cool and toss in the refrigerator. Use within a few days. Can be frozen for later use. Note: if you don’t like the skins on the tomatoes, just pull the skins off after cooking. They pop off pretty easily. Enjoy! Tessa

so glad that your little alien tomato turned out to be a tasty one! Sometimes mixups like that work out and sometimes they don’t. I’m with your son in that I love the little green zebras. Once my garden is ready for planting next year, I think I grow at least one plant of those. ALL of your pictures are gorgeous and your roasted tomatoes look scrumptious. I can see them going in A LOT of stuff. Can I have some for the salsa I’m making this afternoon? :)

Hey Pamela! I learned the benefit of roasting tomatoes just last year. I wish I had known about it ten years ago. I love the flavors that are coaxed out of the tomato after the roasting process. I like that roasted tomatoes are easily frozen so Bruce and I can enjoy that wonderful tomato flavor in the winter season. :).

Hey Karen! Oh no! A few tomatoes are better than no tomatoes :). My tomato harvest has slowed down a bit… I think due to the smokey conditions from all of the forest fires here in Southern Oregon. However, the season is far from over. We have about six to eight weeks left.